Thursday, 28 July 2011

Last Friday Mum and I went shopping to Milton Keynes for her birthday. It was such a lovely day, loved spending quality time with my lovely Mum and of course spending some money!!!

It was one of those shopping trips that went so well, I found everything I knew I was looking for, some over bits that weren’t planned but super happy I got!! Oh and had a yummy Wagamamas for lunch!

So what did I get??.....

Urban Decay Naked Palette - £32

I was going to save the best til last but i just couldn’t wait to talk about it! I know all you make up junkies will know all about and own this already, but for those of you who don’t......it’s AMAZING!

It's a palette with 12 of the most stunning, wearable colours which comes with the Potion Primer and a gorgeous eyeshadow brush.I am in love with this. I will easily wear all these beautiful colours. I’ve already experimented a bit with, day looks, smokey eyes etc! So far my favourite shades are Half Baked, Smog, Sin , Darkhorse and Sidecar!

In my Mums words “it’s a thing of Beauty”.....she’s a wise woman!!!

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Semi Precious in Crystal Pink - £20.50

I’m also loving this at the moment, it gives quite subtle colour but a beautiful healthy glow to the skin. I think it looks so luxurious , the beautiful mix of colours in the pan. Yummy!!

L’Oreal Lash Architect 4D in Black - £10.99

I love a bit of volume for my lashes, so when the sales girl in Boots told me ‘Due to the extra black pigment’ in the mascara, it’s even more dramatic than my favourite L’Oreal Million Lashes, I snapped it up!!!

She was right!! It is very dramatic and gives you the full, false lash look, which I love!! I only need one coat of this as I think it could go clumpy if you did two. It definitely lengthens but I’m not so sure it curls my lashes. Although that doesn’t bother me so much, I’m all about the volume!!

The bristle brush is good, it’s quite long and thin, making is easy to get to the roots of the lashes.

Liz Earle Cleanse & polish - £13.25

I’d seen so many great reviews on this, everyone seems to love this and I can see why!! I’ve only been using it for just under a week so I’d not seen really noticeable results but I can tell just by using this in such a short time how great this will be for my skin!

Again a lot of you will be in the know with this but, for you who aren't......It’s a cream cleanser containing Eucalyptus, Cocoa Butter, Chamomile, Rosemary oil and lots of other yummy ingredients that are only going to benefit your skin!

You apply 1-2 pumps to dry skin, rub it all over your face including your eyes (yes it’s that gentle) then wipe off the excess with a hot, damp cloth. I do this twice as you’ll be surprised to see there is still traces of makeup the second time round!

You can really feel it cleaning and refreshing your skin. It’s quite scary to think up until recently I’d use facial wipes every day, It was just laziness as I know they are not good enough for daily use and for all that time my makeup wasn’t being removed fully!

I bought the starter kit which contains the full size pump and 2 cloths! Love it!!!

Boots Mango Sugar Scrub - £7.92

I can’t be doing with body exfoliators that feel like a shower gel with a few beads gently buffing the skin, nope I want a hardcore scrub that actually feels like it’s doing something, and getting rid of the dry skin. I’d heard that Soap & Glory’s Flake Away was good, but when I tested it I wasn’t all that impressed and I’m not overly keen on the heavy fragrance in their products!

So when I saw this, I opened it and first off the delicious scent of summery mangos hit me, then I saw how coarse it looked, which is exactly what I wanted! It was also 3 for 2, so Mum got one too and she got the body butter to match!

It is super!! Its also great for scrubbing off old patchy self tan!! Love it!!

I also got my husband a Dolce & Gabbana aftershave as it was our 3 year wedding anniversary on Monday, some party Feet Heel Shields as my gorgeous nude heels are a little too big, a yellow T-shirt for £5 in the sale at New Look and a pair of jeans in Dorothy Perkins for £15!

Ooooohhh at 7am the door bell went, I got very excited as I knew that it would be my Glossy box arriving! This was my first box, so I was super excited!!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Glossy Box, it’s a monthly subscription of £10 (+ £2.95 p+p from Sept). Each month you will receive a box filled with 5 luxury miniatures, ranging from lipsticks, haircare to body oils! It’s a chance to try out these high end products without the huge price tag some of them have!

The packaging is beautiful, the box is pretty pink, inside the products are wrapped in black tissue paper and a pink ribbon, it looks and feels so luxurious!!

Last month there were complaints, some girls weren’t happy with their boxes. It was a bit of an anti climax as the previous one had a full size Nars Illuminator worth around £20!

I think they have improved this months box!!.......

So what did I get??........Ciate Nail Enamel in Kitten HeelsRRP £7.95 – This is a beautiful bright red with a gold shimmer running through it. It’s a beautiful colour! I’m a Ciate Virgin, would you believe, so I’m looking forward to trying this out! I’ll do a NOTD with this soon!!

Illamasqua Sheer Lipgloss in Explode RRP £13 – This is super glossy, with a pink iridescent finish. It’s very pretty, but very pale so I’ll wear it over a lipstick rather than on its own I think! Smells lovely too!

Nouveau Strip Lashes - These are gorgeous glamorous lashes! Definitely night time lashes for me rather than daytime!

Weleda Pomegranate Regenerating Body Oil RRP - £19.95 – This body oil only contains pure plant oils, it’s rich in fatty acids and anti-oxidising vitamins. It says to use the oil to hydrate and smooth your skin. It has a delicate scent. I really looking forward to trying this out!!

Xen Tan Deep Bronze Luxe (Trial Size) - This self tan is the Winner of Best Ever Beauty Buy, by Elle Magazine! It’s an ultra sheer instant colour, which will give you a gorgeous glow and will last up to 7 days! Read *Dainty*Dollymix*great review here!!

I am so pleased with this months Glossy Box, I can’t wait to try it all out. And of course I’ll review everything on here!

To sign up visit Glossy Box now!! You fill out an online survey and they send you out the products best suited to you! As I briefly said there will be a £2.95 P+P charge as of September but I still think that’s a cracking deal!!

Friday, 15 July 2011

................so where did I go first?! Primark of course! I can never find clothes in there I like, although I do like the jewellery and I thought I’d have a look at the cosmetics. I wasn’t expecting much, but it didn’t look too bad!

I’ve been needing an under eye concealer for a while, the Boots 17 one I have is useless, so when I saw the Ta Ta For Now Magic Undereye Concealer in Light for £2.50, I thought I’d give it a go! I love the packaging. It’s actually really good, it gives great coverage and hides dark circles so I’m happy with that! The 17 one I have is rubbish, no coverage, watery and does nothing, so this is a great improvement on that! Woo!!I also picked up this foundation and concealer brush for £1.50!

Then I saw the Take A Brow Eye Brow Kit. It was on it’s own, opened with the eyebrow stencil missing. So as it was in this state I asked if it would be reduced, which it was £1 down from £3!I’ve not tried it yet but I’ll let you know how I get on with it!!

In the jewellery section I saw this bangle, I’m not usually one for big colourful accessories but I thought this was quite cute and would go with a lot of outfits! Its yellow, teal, blue, red, orange and pink. The photo doesn’t really do it justice! Only £2!!

Then I headed over to Boots. I needed a mascara, and as I was on a budget shop I picked up this Collection 2000 Super Size Fat Lash Mascara for £2.99. It says it ‘Supersize your lashes, super volumising mascara for big, bold lashes’.......Errrr, Nope!! It’s a barely there, very natural mascara! The brush is nice and chunky but I just doesn’t have the volume I want! Oh well, I’ll stick with my old favourites!

I then headed to Poundland to pick up my third tube on Bronze Ambition Fake It Don’t Bake it! See my review for that!! Fab stuff!!!!!!!

Thursday, 14 July 2011

On Tuesday I went to my first ever PR event, needless to say I was pretty excited! Being my first, I had no idea what to expect. Who would be there? Will I recognise anyone? And of course what do I wear??? I thought I’d go smart, so I decided on a pretty black, flowery dress and black Mary Jane shoes. Boy, did I get it wrong, everyone was pretty cool and casual, and my feet were killing me, actually they were killing me before I’d arrived!

Apart from feeling like an over dressed newbie, I really enjoyed it! I got to meet the gorgeous ladies behind the emails at Pegasus PR, who were all so lovely and were very clued up on the products.

We arrived at Bills Restaurant in Covent Garden at 8.30am, greeted by the very friendly staff and guided upstairs where the event was taking place. First I saw a table with a delicious spread of croissants, cupcakes, tea cakes, fruit, fudge and fruit juices. Beyond the yummy food I saw all the fantastic products we were there to see and try.

I recognised the Trilogy brand as I have used a couple of their products, but I was excited to see the rest of the range. They have some gorgeous products and ranges which I wasn’t familiar with. Age Proof- products for mature skin, an ideal regime to combat deeper lines and wrinkles, loss of elasticity, dryness and pigmentation.

Face Care – A range of cream and gel cleansers, a gentle facial exfoliant, a purifying masque and an award winning daily moisturiser. To name but a few!

Body Care – This collection includes body moisturisers, a Botanical Body Wash, hand care products and luxurious body oils that pamper and nourish skin from head to toe with pure plant oils, extracts and essential oils.

Natural Actives For Men – This range is made up of a simple four step grooming regime for men that blend energising minerals and soothing plant oils. In this range you will see.Face Wash + Scrub Smooth Shave Cream

After Shave Balm

Moisturiser with SPF15

Hair Care – This gentle, effective hair care range is suitable for all hair types and conditions. Due to the pure plant oils, extracts and essential oils which reinforce the hairs body, shine and vitality.

Trilogy also do the Everything Balm, you may remember I did a post about this fabulous product back in June, so take a look at my review!

Then I saw celebrity makeup Artist Eryca Freemantle giving colour matching consultations for the Keromask foundation which was the other brand being introduced to us at the event.

Eryca is the brand consultant for Keromask who has worked with the team to develop this new range.

Due to a devastating car crash in her 20’s Eryca was left with very nearly the loss of her leg, losing her hair, severe scarring and discolouration to her face.This is what motivated her to train in corrective makeup. And then become involved in the making of Keromask 100% waterproof Camouflage Cream Foundation and the Mineral Rich Finishing Powder.

The foundation is suitable for disguising all skin imperfections ranging from acne, vitaligo, rosacea, scars, dark circles and even unwanted tattoos.

Here is Eryca giving me my consultation

I got to take away a foundation (£14.99), translucent powder (£15.99) and the facial wipes (£4.99). I will do a separate review on this once I’ve used it!

Sorry for the poor pic, I'll improve this asap!

Ok, so that was my first PR event which I really enjoyed. I promise not to go quite into detail of what I was wearing etc etc with every event I (hopefully) go to. Come on, it was my first, I was excited!! J

Monday, 11 July 2011

Ok, girls (and boys) a couple of weeks back I told you about the Poundland beauties I bought. I got the Bronze Ambition Instant tan, which I did a post about. I also got the Fake It Don’t Bake It self tan. I’ve now used it and surprisingly I think it’s fab!!!

I was sceptical as I’ve had some orangey/streaky bad experiences in the past, so for something so cheap, I didn’t have high hopes!! However It’s lovely, it is a very natural colour, and I actually manage to cover my whole body.....Streak free!!!!

It’s not as strong in colour as some self tans, I would describe it as slightly darker than a gradual tanner, maybe day 2 using Garnier Summer Body! However if you’re pale like me you only need one layer!I did one layer all over and I was really happy with the colour, it looked so natural. The day after I was shopping in Tescos and the check out girl asked if I’d been on holiday as I looked like I had a really nice colour!! That made my afternoon, so that night I put an extra layer on my legs. Not a good move, for me it looked too dark and I managed to get patchy feet. So the one layer was enough as it was so natural.

The formulation is great, it’s quite thick, rubs in and dries quickly so I didn’t have to hang around in the nud for too long! Lol! It has the same scent as the instant tanner, which I love.I’ve had this on since Friday night, and it’s lasted pretty well. Today it’s started to fade on my arms and where my elbows are quite dry, they still look dark. It’s not a great look, but that’s obviously not all down to the product, but my dry skin, so I can’t complain!

Now, I don’t know the ins and out and the science of products and what ingredients are good and bad, all I really know is natural/organic is good and parabens are bad.

For £1, I’m not expecting it to be fair trade, organic, the packaging 100% recycable. I wasn’t even expecting it to be that good, but that’s one thing it is!! I’d highly recommend this.

I’ve not taken any pics of myself as I forgot to take before shots, so you’ll have to take my word for it!! It’s great stuff!!

For those of you who don’t have a Poundland nearby, visit the website www.bronze-ambition.com. It’s a little more expensive on line, but still a bargain!

Monday, 4 July 2011

So today I got back from an amazing, relaxing, fun weekend with my beautiful girlfriends! We went to Centre Parcs in Elvenden Forest, Suffolk. We arrived on Friday, chilled out a bit at our modern villa and then had a look around the complex. Later that evening we went out for some dinner, had a couple of drinks and then went back to our accommodation.
The next day we had a bit of a relaxed morning, a bit of lunch then went for a swim in the 'sub tropical swimming paradise'. We then got back to our villa, chilled out some more before getting glammed up for out night at Bella Italia and a good few Vodkas!!

L-R Jo, Aimee, Kara & Becky

Ok, so here are my gorgeous girlfriends, I hope you'll all agree they are very stylish girls!! So here is a kind of OOTD for you!!

Jo's shorts and shirt are both from New Look.

Aimee's dress is from French Connection

Kara's top is from Primark and jeans from New Look

Becky's bottoms are River Island.

This photo doesn't really do the girls and their outfit justice, they all looked fabulous!!